The Assassin in the Land of Death
For backstory, go here: The Trial of Sol Characters * Sureshot: A Morpheon assassin, in Necropolis for a crime against a cosmic being. * Necrobane/Z: The master of Necropolis and the one who Sureshot is running from. Beginning The building was a tomb, or at the very least it was built like one. It resembled an Egyptian tomb with symbols and Hieroglyphs on the walls telling stories few could read. Within the large square rooms were often pillars just as decorated as the wall, and all of it was made of deep black stone. It was hard to imagine anyone, anything lived here, yet there was a sound that implied inhabitants. In fact, several, but they were all ultimately the same. The sound of metal colliding with stone, over and over, echoed through the halls. Down the halls and through the rooms he ran, a mechanoid, a humanoid mechanical being. He was primarily yellow and his body looked like a car had been cannibalized and used to build his parts. Wheels were on his shoulders and door hang over his arms. His lower legs were the split back section of the car, his feet folded out of them, and his chest was the car hood. Thanks to his night vision, he was able to see, to navigate the tomb, and his mechanical mind had made a mental note of where he was and had been. He was certain that he inevitably escape...until then he just had to out run 'them'. They ran behind him, like him they were mechanical, and their origins were much more similar than he could've imagined. They were robot, resembling humanoid skeletons in build. They were thin, 'skinny' looking things who waved about their large halberd with unnatural grace and ease. Their chests resembled rib cages and their heads, metallic versions of a feline skulls, with glowing purple optics. Their eyes glowed the same color as the symbols that covered their bodies. The robot kept running, failing to notice the monstrous statues he passed along the way, horrific figure held in poses of horror themselves. Eventually he made his way to the balcony. As far as his optics could see, the sky was covered in storm clouds, replacing the dead silence with the distant booming echoes of ruination and devastation. The land itself seemed ghostly white with cities of black stone littering the place, dark mountains in the distance and a mist covering all of it. The clanging footsteps of his pursuers echoed in his audio receptors, they were close. He knew he didn't have time to sight see and looked down. The fall was far, maybe fatal, maybe not, but staying up there was definitely fatal. He jumped hoping his shock absorbers could withstand the impact. To a degree they did, but he felt it, something snap and bend. He fought the urge to scream out in pain and just began to limp away. Something in the back his mind told him to turn around. He did, and looked in shock at the massive building he was now leaving. The front 'door' was clearly made for the giant he had seen, but...he had been in there, everything was his size, so how... His thought was interrupted by the skeletal drone crashing into the ground and shattering out. Then another and another. The mechanoid could only marvel at the lack of intelligence non-sentient machines had, that was until they started to put themselves back together. Purple bolts of energy dragged missing pieces back together, dents puffed out and severed component became as one again. He wasted no time, he turned and jumped, his body compacted, his toes and head folded away, as his chest folded back into a car hood. He landed in vehicle mode and took off. Within minutes the guards had repaired themselves and moved to run after him. "No..." said a whispering voice like the grave "let him have his head start..." Part 2 It was strange, the robot had seen many of his own kind terminated and destroyed, by his own servos no less, but this land, this alien realm, its death was far more apparent than he had ever seen before. Even with the mist covering the ground, the bleached white of the soil was clear to him under such dark skies. The stones, boulders, clearly the same used to construct that massive palace, were as dark as night, and many, the ground, the stones, bore cracks. From these cracks yawned pulses of purple, unnerving energy. He knew of every time he drove over a crack by the...chill it gave him. He drove passed strange statues, and small settlements. However, he was quick to realize these were not settlements for the living. Clusters of tombs of varying sizes, watched over by strange looking gargoyles. Was this entire world dedicated to the dead? He decided to stop, and, he needed to make repairs and he couldn't keep going forever. He stopped and transformed and noticed something odd. The tombs...seemed larger than before. He was an average sized mechanoid, twice the size of the average organic. When he drove in, it was clear these buildings were not built for his like. Still it didn't matter. He made his way into a crypt, hid in the back and opened a compartment on his leg to get his tools. With them he opened another panel and began his work. His skeletal structure for his leg, it was bent, it almost snapped. That was to be expected, his shock absorbers were not part of his natural anatomy, they were modifications, something that could get him boxed back home, but they saved his life many times before. He bore the pain as he popped out the bend and soldered up the spot. His leg would hurt, but he was not organic, it would not stop him...but it would still hurt. He put away his things, closed his panels and sighed. "Where am I...?" "Necropolis..." said a voice. He stood up and pulled out a pistol. It only had a few shots so its use was limits. "This is the land of Necrobane, Z, Lord of Death and Undeath, third and last of the Trinity..." "Trinity...?" Asked Sureshot. This voice was different, it sounded weak and echoing, not like the grave voice of that creature. Though it whispered, he could feel those words echoing in his soul, like it was marred for all eternity. "What trinity...?" He figured that while he was here, he could get some answers. He counted on his robotic strength and vehicle form to get him out of trouble quickly if he needed. "Order, Chaos and the End. Sol and his 'Justice', the construction of rules and the enforcement of them. His markings are upon you..." "Sol, you're saying he is...like that thing...?" "Yes and no, similar they, dissimilar they are. When Order has reached its potential, then comes Chaos, lorded by Akreious. He is extropy, he is possibility, he is madness and imagination. He represents change, and with Sol, they represent evolution and if they fail, if order fails to change, or if the change fails to build upward, the only option is the End." "The master of this place..." he said with a sneer. "The Necrobane, the End. He is prince of the end of the cycle, both naturally and unnaturally, thus he lords over death AND undeath. He has long spoken of destroying your race, but Sol stayed his hand..." "What...?!" "You are stagnant, your people do not grow and worse. For your failing order, you plotted against the lord of order, and you struck him. Your kind has blasphemed against the representative of the proper order of things and thus, the proper order of things. Even now, in his compassion Sol argues with his peers against your destruction." "Then why am I here...?" "You, are a sacrificial lamb. By your actions you have vexed them more than the rest of your kind, more than Sol can hope to calm. Thus he gave you up, for the rest of them, and Z grabbed you first." "And, if..." "I cannot fathom what Akreious would have done to you, but you should go now..." "Why...?" "Now you know, you have no hope, Sureshot..." "Where are you...!" He shouted angrily. The coffin, which had lied in the middle of the room, somehow unnoticed by the robot, opened. The mist ran in and into the container as its occupant rose. The figure rose, dressed in ornate plate armor and fine but tattered green robes. A crown, made of silver and antlers was on his head and the mist flowed in an around him and his sword and eldritch black staff. The mist flowed into the runes of his weapons and they glowed and the figure turned his head, showing his skeletal form, and glowing blue spheres of light for eyes, crying tears of mist. "Little bot, little bot..." said the same voice as before "you are too slow, the master knows where you go. Little bot, little bot, run and hide. The master's power comes like a black tide..." Sureshot ran around him and out the door as the skeleton laughed with a voice now like thunder. Terror was on his face and in his circuits, and he swore he could hear the laugh echoing as he ran, only it wasn't an echo. Scared as he was, he noticed the mist seeping into the doors, the vaults, the crypts. He should have noticed that the statues were gone, for they now lunged upon him. The long necked creatures bore long claws and skin like stone. On their now visible face were masks that resemble skull. Despite their lithe appearance, they were strong, unnaturally so, his proud robot strength felt useless. On pure instinct he transformed into vehicle mode and use his boosters to fly out of their grip and speed of. Part 3 Sureshot drove, he drove as fast as he could and as far possible, until he remembered that he had to conserve his gas. The scenery was as before, white soil, black stone, a thick mist and dark grey clouds for a land in perpetual twilight. Despite the darkness things were visible, not that he noticed. He was busy thinking about what that 'thing' said, that Sol, the creator of his race, a deity, 'his' deity, whether he wanted to admit it or not, had cast him into the pit as a sacrifice. He though about them, all the tales about him, all the titles he had light-bringer, life-giver, fire-lord, forge-master, a builder of things...who made them and departed, leaving them to fend for themselves. He seethed and raged, 'how could they have known' he thought. "I don't deserve this...!" he shouted. "Do we ever...?" replied a voice echoing back at him. Sureshot transformed and looked around, ready for a fight, instead he noticed something, a bonfire and next to it a figure. The figure was near his size, but cubiod in appearance. He knew a mechanoid when he saw one. He approached, they sat on a black stone, and had rusting off white armor, clearly they had been here long. Their kibble and build said they were the common sort of Morpheon. "Fuel...?" they said handing him a can. He walked next to 'her' and took it. He scanned it and drank. "Thanks I needed that..." he sat on a boulder next to hers. "No problem friend..." "Do I know you...?" She looked at him, with a sad smile. Even her face has rust on it. Then she turned back to the blue-white flames. "I think not, but we have met, a long time ago..." "Where...?" "In Vas..." "I don't have any friends in Vas..." "But we did meet..." "Clearly I left a greater impression..." She chuckled. "What's so funny...?" "How true that is..." he down some of the oil. The taste was unusual, but the grade was good. "Do you remember Six-Six..?" "Who...?" "He was a teacher at the university, an Anti-Solist. Which is ironic because from the looks of it, Sol would've liked him. He spoke up against the upper class and denounce the Function System, imposed on mechanoids. He electronic brain was splattered on the floor of his apartment and ruled as a suicide..." "Huh...I don't remember that..." "Then why would you remember some on as low profile as me..." The discomfort was plain on his face and in his posture as he sat upon the boulder. He no longer trusted the fuel he in taking and poured it off to the side. "So...why are you here...? Did our 'great and benevolent' creator cast you here as well...?" "No, this realm, this place, it's close to the other side, skims just beneath the surface. Its master traffics the energies of death and knows as much about souls as maybe Sol..." "I don't understand...?" "Now, you didn't hear this from me..." she said with the tone of a stereotypical gossip "but the word on the street is that old light and shining armor, Sol, supplies Z with dark tomes and books of magic." "Really..." he replied in disinterested, disbelief. "Yup, but you didn't hear it from me..." "Why are you here...?" "You called us..." "I called...wait 'us'...?" Sureshot looked around. There were suddenly several other mechanoids around him, all of them Morpheons, of varying designs, but most were normal, car robots like him, and he was confused until he saw him...Six-Six, an orange car robot with yellow stripes, drinking oil with a fem-bot. More and more robots seemed to keep walking out of the mist now and as he looked about afraid, he noticed their faces and began to recognize several of them. Then he finally pieced it all together. "I called you here..." he said with a defeated tone. "Basically, it's more like you gave us focus to...manifest here. As I said, he traffics in the energies of death." "And now...?" "We are shadows...besides there are greater darkness than mere specters in this place." He turned and ran, knocking over bots and taking off on foot into the wilderness. She watched him leave, with a look of disappointment. Then she turned, the other bots went down their sides and went to sleep, fading back into the mist as 'he' came. Z, the master of this place walked towards her, at Mechanoid size. "Will he be alright...?" "No..." he said amused. "Well have 'some' mercy on him. He's really just a bot of his world, we were all lost..." He put his tentacle on her cheek. "That is sweet, and saintly, caring for you killer, but back to sleep now." His whispering, echoing voice, did not sound like all the other times he spoke. It sounded, or attempted to, sound fatherly, comforting...ultimately it failed, but the effort was still noticeable. She curled on her side and rested her head as if going to sleep before sinking into the boulder and turning to mist as the same time. "Sureshot..." he said with voice back to normal "I grow tired of this, your time has come to an end, make your peace, for the End is coming for you, and I have no mercy to give." Sureshot waded through the swamp, not even noticing the ghost apparitions reaching for him under the waves of the dead bog. However, he heard Z's voice, it echoed in his CPU into a deadening oblivion. It only motivated him to move faster, and push harder. Unfortunately, in his fear he had forgotten about his fuel levels. Part 4 Sureshot finally stopped running after he had gotten out of the swamp. He heeled over tired and immediately looked at his readings. His engine almost had a glitch when he saw how low his levels were. Just under twenty five percent. At ten percent, his body would go into energy saving mode. He looked to the distance, and he saw it, the dust clouds, they were rising in the distance. His telescopic eyes looked out into the distance. It was those skeletal robots, now running at high speed towards his direction. This truth was made all the worse by how it seemed as if they were staring right back at him. "They are, you know..." Sureshot turned to see a strange sight. The robotic figure resembled a knight in plate armor, with a hooded tunic and breechcloth (a tapestry hanging in front from his waist) The metal was bronze/gold, and visor of the helmet was dark with a faceplate and a pair of rectangular pieces on his back that emitted energy tendrils of gold that calmed down to form a pair of wings made of fiery energy. "What...?" "You were thinking, 'it's like they know where I am'... They do..." "Why is that...?" he asked angrily. "You're the only 'living' thing in this place, technically speaking..." "What about you, or the squid thing...?" "Z, we are Titan Princes, 'life' is a concept beneath us..." Sureshot paused for a moment until a look of realization and anger was on his face. "Yes..." said Sol, answering a question never answered. Sureshot threw a punch which Sol caught in his fist. "You really haven't learned your lesson." He pushed him back and looked up "Z, do you mind, I would like some time..." Sureshot didn't notice it at first, but quickly he picked up on it. The mist around them had stopped moving, the cracks had stopped their pulsating and simply glowed. He turned and looked at the horde, they were frozen in time. "How..." "This is Z's realm, here, he is god." "What is this even about...!?" he said turning back around, "Why are you here...?" "To help you find piece at the end, your welcome..." "If you want to help get me out of here, you don't seem bothered that I tried to kill you, heck, how long ago was that...?" "In real world time...less than a second..." "What...?" he said confused. "It seems you didn't upload the basic physics course, time is not constant, it can speed up, slow down and all that. Here in our realm, time was what we make of it." "Then you left...?" "No, I'm still there..." "But..." "We're cosmic things, child, your limitations do not exist for us...but then again we have limits of our own..." "Oh really..." he said skeptical "For example, I am only in here because Z allowed it. So no, I cannot save you if I wanted to..." "WHY DO I HAVE TO DIE!" "You struck against the heavens, and my companions Z and Akrious, death and chaos, were incensed. Honestly it was bad enough keeping them under control when that whole case thing began, but when you lot tried to assassinate me...well they called for blood, or in your case, oil to flow. A...bargain was struck. I destroyed your employer but someone had to pay for the crime..." "What crime...?!" "You tried to murder a representative of the proper order of things... I am Order, then comes Chaos, and the End to start the cycle anew. I make things, I make rules, and you've heard all of this already..." "You gods are petty and pathetic..." "Oh please, you lot weren't complaining when I didn't destroy you all..." "There is my point, you talk about how 'great' you are but you don't care!" "Child...for what reason should we care...?" said Sol coldly "Because you're our creations, because the universe exist for you...? That first point is true, the second, no, no it does not. We care only by our own grace, we act only when our station allows it..." "What does that mean...?" "I create, because that is my nature, my purpose, I preserve because that is also my nature, by I protect by choice, one of the few times I can act outside of simply being the 'lord of order'. You, you make your own choice, everyday, of every second...and they lead you here..." "You lead me here...!" "You're such a brat, refusing to own up to your choices. All the other assassins turned down that job. At the end of the day, you're here because I refuse to take your free will. I made you all, and when I had no further use for your progenitors...I set them free and since then you've put yourselves in chain and said it was 'my will'. Then you tried to blame all your failing on me and then when that wasn't working you tried to kill me... I am not amused. Take joy that neither I nor Akreious took you, for Z's punishments are much more...fair in comparison..." "What do you want...?" "...'want'...? Want is a mortal thing, the definition of nothing ever being enough for you creatures... I am beyond want... I will tell you this now...Surrender to Z and he will make it quick, but continue to run...and let us be honest, you have nowhere to run...you will endure a fate worse than death..." "I will survive..." "Said the bot who hasn't notice that the buildings change size..." Sol was gone, and time flowed again. Sureshot thought for a moment a choice was at his door. He wasted no time, and opened his internal back supply of fuel, giving him thirty five percent fuel. Then he took of. In the end...he chose poorly. In Necropolis, the realm of Z, there are many things a mortal man should fear. The dead may walk as if alive, the honored dead that serve the dark lord, the Praetorians made of black metal and their larger cousins the Sphinxes. However they were not the worse, there were also...nameless...'things' in certain choice locations, like the gate like structure, decorated by a coin that Sureshot passed through. It stood over one of these things, the Z kept as a pet. What happened to next turned his armor plating white, and left his mind fractured. Epilogue Sureshot did not want to remember the last few minutes, as Z dragged him from out of the dark, holding him by one tentacle. He didn't even bother to resist Z, nor fight, he was broke, he was dead in all but body now. "Rejoice child..." said Z "for you kind may yet live. If they fall it will not be by our hand..." He could only stop and wonder if that meant anything to him now. He lived a life sustained on the life of others, in a way he thought of how vampiric he was in a way. Now, ironically, he death meant life for so many, yet would anyone care, he wasn't sure he cared. His internal computer kept telling him about stasis in five percent. Five percent of fuel before he risked going off line. It meant he could still fight, but he wouldn't. He was not sure how long he was hanging upside down, but Z still held him, only now the titan prince was titanic in size. Now he was garbed in white robes. Looking around he knew the streets, he knew faces. He was home. He looked around. He recognized Sol's voice, it came from a giant humanoid being, with skin like a suit and a face like a mask with almond eyes, a crest on his head and dorsal crest down his spine. "You lot want someone to blame for your problems, look to yourselves. I've told you what you need to do, care for each other, respect each other, all of you. I will not hold your hand, and I will not rule you. You were given freedom, yet all you do with it, is take the freedom of each other. 'Divine classes' nonsense, those were old designs I didn't bother to take. The old order has grown as much as it could...all that is left is adaptation or extinction..." He shouted to the crowd of scared mechanoids. "Do you want this back...?" said Z. Sol turned around and looked at him, bending over to examine him. There was something about the light that was soothing. "Did...did you turn him into a zombie...?" "I am the Prince of Death..but no,.also you told me they didn't have sparks..." "They don't, they have Ghosts..." "Huh...?" "A general technical term for sentience, the stuff of a soul, self awareness and the ability to perceive disparity...Did he run into one of them...?" "Yeah..." "Ouch, well you better leave before he..." "Akreious is in the house....!" said a large suit of spiky black armor with fire erupting out of every gap or whole. He suddenly appeared ex nihlo in a stance, pointing to the side with his other arm was on his hip. "By all the stars in all the heavens..." "Excuse me..." The three giants looked down at Phallanica, who was suddenly, an understandable uncomfortable with her sudden attention. "What is going on..." "I am a cosmic being, known as a Titan Prince. I am known as Sol Titan Prince of Fire and Justice. The fire armor, thing, is Akreious, Titan Prince of Chaos and Extropy...." "Ex-what...?" said Akreious "You make things unique..." "Alright...!" "The alien thing...?" she asked "Hey...!" said Z "Is..." said Sol "well we just call him Z, or Zombie, he is the Titan Prince of Death, and Undeath. Together we represent the universal cycle of Order, Chaos and Death..." "How are you friends with..." "I am represent order, a new order, a structure established. Akreious represents change, diversity and with me adaptation and evolution. Z is the end of the cycle, the stagnate order, or form is removed, and thus a new order begins. It is not the difficult. Now We shall be taking our leave..." " What about this...?" asked Z. The last thing Sureshot saw was Sol pointing at him. Then he found himself standing in Z's realm. He was by the campfire from before but it was different. There was not computer augmenting his perceived reality, no weight, physically or mentally, he just sat down, curled up and went to sleep as the mist washed over him. Category:SolZen321 Category:Episodes Category:One Shots Category:Completed